Koenigsberg
General information: First Jewish presence: 1508; peak Jewish population: 5,324 in 1880 (4% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 3,170 (1% of total pop.)
Summary: The earliest records of a Jewish presence in Koenigsberg,
dated 1508, mention two Jews. Jewish merchants were
permitted to settle in Koenigsberg in the 17th or 18th
century, but it was not until 1812, as a result of the Edict
of Emancipation, that their living conditions improved.
The Jewish community established a prayer room
in 1680 and a synagogue on Schnuerlingsdamm (later
Synagogenstrasse, or “synagogue street”) in 1756. The
synagogue was destroyed in a neighborhood fire in 1811,
after which, in 1815, it was rebuilt. Eastern European
Jews operated three prayer rooms.
In 1896, liberal Jews in Koenigsberg inaugurated a
synagogue, called the “New Synagogue,” on Lindenstrasse.
The Orthodox Adass Jisroel congregation, which had
begun conducting its prayer services at the old synagogue
in 1893, maintained its own school for religious studies,
mikveh and slaughterhouse. The community consecrated
its first cemetery, on Wrangelstrasse, in 1703/04.
Additional burial grounds were consecrated in 1875
and in 1929.
Jews contributed greatly to the city’s social, political
and cultural life. After World War I, however, as anti-
Semitic parties gained a foothold in Koenigsberg, local
Jews were assaulted, their institutions attacked and their
businesses boycotted. In 1932, SA members destroyed
Jewish-owned properties.
In June, 1933, 3,170 Jews lived in Koenigsberg; 457
children received religious instruction, and 36 students
attended a Hebrew school on Lindenstrasse. Active in
the community were 14 welfare associations, several
social work foundations and branches of nation-wide
Jewish organizations. We also know that the community
maintained a library and published a journal.
In March 1933, the old synagogue and Jewish-owned
stores were set on fire; a local Jew was murdered by SA
men. Jewish social life continued to flourish, however,
and a Jewish school was founded in 1935.
On Pogrom Night, Nazis burned down the New
Synagogue and destroyed Jewish institutions and prayer
rooms. The following morning, Jewish-owned stores and
homes were looted, a cemetery was damaged and 400 men
were imprisoned in Methgethen.
Beginning in 1939, Koenigsberg’s remaining Jews
were confined to designated “Jews’ houses” and subjected
to forced labor. Approximately 1,100 local Jews were deported to Minsk, Riga and Theresienstadt in 1942/43. In 1943, Polish Jews from Stutthof and Soldau were
brought to Koenigsberg as forced laborers. In January 1945,
approximately 7,000 Jews were marched from Koenigsberg
to Palmnicken.
Today, nearly 2,000 Jews live in Koenigsberg. In October
2011, the new community laid the foundation stone of a
synagogue on Lindenstrasse (present-day Oktyabrskaya
Street). A plaque was affixed to the former Jewish orphanage
in 2006.
Photo: The main synagogue of Koenigsberg. Courtesy of: Unknown.
Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: AH, EJL, FJG, LJG, W-E, W-G
kaliningrad-eu.blogspot.com/
Sources: AH, EJL, FJG, LJG, W-E, W-G
kaliningrad-eu.blogspot.com/
Located in: east-prussia